Intel seems to have a hit on its hands: The $250 Arc B580 Limited Edition GPU is selling out and receiving glowing reviews. It’s way too early to know if Intel has finally gained a foothold in the gaming card arena, but one thing is clear: Intel hit a nerve with gamers by delivering a quality midrange card at a lower-than-usual price. And, Intel told The Verge the Arc B580 is selling out at most stores. Intel is planning to get cards out to retailers every week to keep up with the demand.
Speaking to The Verge, Intel spokesperson Mark Anthony Ramirez said, “We expect weekly inventory of the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition graphics card and are working with partners to ensure a steady availability of choices in the market.”
We agree that Intel’s Battlemage GPU is a strong midrange card, and we’re glad to see it at a manageable price. Our colleagues at PCMag took the card for a spin had plenty of praise (including an Editor’s Choice award) for the Intel Arc B580 Limited Edition. They noted the card’s “superb” performance at 1080p and liked its ray tracing capabilities.
When it comes to other brands selling cards with the Arc B580 GPU, pricing varies. Gunnir versions go for about $370-400. Acer and Sparkle have much better prices (in the $270-$280 range), but those cards are sold out at most online retailers. Unless Intel and the other card makers have shipments coming to stores soon, it looks like many gamers will be getting their cards after Christmas. Hopefully, they’ll be able to ring in the New Year with fresh hardware.
Sparkle Intel Arc B580
Credit: Sparkle
The Arc B580 challenges Nvidia’s RTX 4060 and AMD’s RX 7600. In benchmarks, the new GPU wins some and loses some. It’s roughly comparable and clearly close enough in performance to convince many gamers. As time goes on and Intel’s drivers improve, the card will likely see an increase in its performance a bit, too.
If the card makers can keep up with demand, the Arc B580 will have a few more weeks of being the gaming darling. Once CES hits, Nvidia will drop its RTX 50 series GPUs—including, possibly, its more midrange RTX 5070. AMD also appears to have its RX 8800 and 8600 GPUs in the works, though the launch date for that is murky. Intel’s challenge will be to continue putting out competing GPUs around the same time AMD and Intel do. If it can stick to the cadence, there might be three GPU giants for gamers to choose from.
